Building a Smart City

Work out what problems need fixing Too many smart city visions concentrate on big data and the Internet of things when there are more fundamental problems. Take Jakarta and Beijing: They are both currently exploring data dashboards and citywide sensing projects to address issues around traffic congestion, when what these cities really need are vastly improved public transport systems. 

Find a leader, Leaders should come from the public sector. Some of the standout smart cities – Barcelona, Amsterdam, Malmo – exhibited dynamic leadership from their mayors as well as chief executives. Crucially, they did not leave the evolution of the city to the market … In parts of Africa and Asia smart cities are almost purely private sector-driven. As a result, we are seeing elaborate hi-tech satellite cities gathering dust.

Develop a vision everyone can get behind, The Olympics is a good example of a shared goal, which succeeded in bringing together communities, the public and private sectors, academia, volunteers and business. Many smart city projects fail in communicating the vision, capturing the imagination of people, they should be involved and made to participate. There is a cultural dimension which has to brought in to make the project successful. Make a business case Networks of sensors need expensive infrastructure, and there’s currently little precedent around whether it’s the taxpayer or industry that foots the bill.

A vision that adds economic, social and environmental value could be key to attracting investment from tech companies, universities and elsewhere. The tech is probably the easiest bit to fix, who pays, who drives the changes, who should be involved – these are all even bigger challenges. Design from the bottom up We have learned from past technology failures that large projects are doomed but breaking down projects into bite-size pieces often works better, Fujisawa, Japan, is an example of a city designed from the ground up. It’s a disaster proof, self-sufficient town with self-cleaning homes that generates its own electricity, even the streets are designed to reduce energy consumption – they follow the shape of a leaf to help natural airflow and reduce the need for AC.

Educate citizens, A smart city will be irrelevant to most of its inhabitants unless they can learn how to use new technology, Very few people can pull live data from an API or set up a new sensor network to monitor air pollution – but until more can. This brief compilation of emerging standards reveals the breadth of smart city subject, the value of collaboration, the opportunities for innovation and the potential for 21st century transformation.

Starting with the ICT enablers that drive smart cities, this multi-part sampling shall touch also upon energy, water, transportation, the built environment, carbon and climate, resilience, community, materials and food, finance and economic development, city business and measurement indicators. Building on the concepts of the technology-driven Internet of Everything and the humanity-driven Internet of the Right Things is like the Industrial Internet Consortium, a new open membership group which can "focus on breaking down the barriers of technology silos," allowing cities to "significantly reduce waste through sensor-embedded water pipes, buildings, parking meters and more. Microgrids can be a climate-smart city's close friend. Combatting climate change necessarily involves a critical shift away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy, efficiency and renewable energy. Such energy resources are inherently distributed and resilient, which makes them naturally compatible with — and their benefits maximized by — microgrids.